Autoantonyms: When 'Ridiculous' Isn't So Plain

OMG, the past 72 hours of NBA free agency is starting to rival a Niagara Falls high wire act. As the final landing of the Harvard-educated point guard intensifies, the Rockets are either on track for a Linsanity blastoff or New York will plunge to a Linless low. Media, both mainstream and social, are bursting its opinion seams and Carmelo Anthony isn’t alone in tossing the word ‘ridiculous’ like a Chris Paul/Blake Griffin alley-oop.  

In fact, it was Anthony, Jeremy Lin’s Knicks teammate, who set off the commentary blaze and with gunfire rapidity, his intended meaning was assumed to be less than complimentary. Conversely, in slanguage, ‘ridiculous’ conveys a positive slant, characterizing something so extreme that it is worthy of rousing applause.

If you’re a b-ball fan, familiar with the invented term ‘ridunkulous,’ you realize the stamp signifies homage to a monstrous dunk. Of course, I don’t claim to know what Anthony meant, but an accomplished writer would’ve pried context’s door wide open. Anthony’s ‘ridiculous’ reference when used as an autoantonym, a word opposite of its conventional meaning, was a strong possibility.

And if you’re still shaky, try this on for size: Shoe freaks bearing beer budgets hyped by champagne tastes would classify Christian Louboutin’s coveted red –soled pumps as ridiculously priced but yet ridiculously artistic in design. Just ask Oprah if you’re not ‘in the know.’      

Furthermore, to be perfectly clear, did you really think Michael Jackson was confessing a character flaw when he pronounced himself ‘Bad’? For those confined to the constraints of unimaginative language, the King of Pop meant good. Luckily, his multitude of fans worldwide recognized his ‘badness’ as pop culture perfecto even if you didn’t.        

Racial Slurs Won't Derail Linsanity

For NBA fanatics in America, Big Apple Linsation handily cancelled any recall of last year’s lockout lows. For communities occasionally rocked by world uncertainty, Linderella delivered a welcomed celebratory distraction. Black, white, brown or yellow people across the globe were united in “rah rah sis boom bah”until Linsanity yielded to media insanity. 

When the Asian-American NY point guard failed to engineer a team lin, Max Bretos, an ESPN anchor cited “a chink in the armor” for cause. “Oh no he didn’t,” I huffed when one considers the racial slur “chink” is earmarked for those of Asian descent. But yes, I’m afraid the media maggot did. Sadly, he wasn’t the lone blow fly.  

Anthony Federico, the writer responsible for the ESPN.com headline has since been fired while Bretos’s slip of the tongue netted a 30-day suspension. What’s puzzling is the lack of admonishment levied against Spero Dedes, the play-by-play voice of the Knicks, whose loose lips parted the same phrase via ESPN Radio New York. And this is supposed to be a team? Clearly those aboard the Lin train seem to execute this concept better than the executive team.

What about Fox Sports columnist Jason Whitlock who recently tweeted “Some lucky lady is going to feel a few inches of pain tonight”? Plain and simple, the statement opened a stereotypical attack on Lin’s masculinity. So unnecessary and unprofessional, but the columnist hasn’t been ejected from his throne when a suspension is justified. Never mind the apologies since issued by Dedes and Whitlock as provoked afterthoughts.   

Jeez, where’s the accountability in media these days? I see it slip-sliding away along with established editorial constraints requiring continuous enforcement.  

Past the professional roar of cultural insensitivity, you have to admit that lin or lose, the Jeremy kid is something special. Harvard’s grad is not only a ball of “I Can” fire on the court but gentlemanly enough off of it to forgive and forget. Perhaps he’s teaching us far more than we bargained for.